


The Library of Mother Goose

by appending_fic



Series: The Age of Mysteries (Ciphers) [5]
Category: Gravity Falls, Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Ancient History, Bunny Making Bad Decisions, Gen, Librarians, Libraries, Lore - Freeform, Slice of Life, The Golden Age, mention of depression, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 05:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6643156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appending_fic/pseuds/appending_fic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jamie agreed to show Dipper Mother Goose's library, and they finally have a chance to do so. Surrounded by the lore of Santoff Claussen, Dipper decides to see if there's anything he can learn about Bill Cipher and the Golden Age...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Library of Mother Goose

It was mid-June, and Dipper and Mabel were packing for Gravity Falls, when the call came.

“Dipper here.”

“Hey, Dipper, you wanna check out Katherine’s library?”

“What - now?” Dipper turned away from Mabel, trying to block out some private space. “I’m packing to head up to Gravity Falls.”

“Oh. I just heard back from Jack, and my mom’s taking us camping after the weekend, so I thought...well, maybe another time.”

Dipper winced. He knew Jamie had other friends, but in the last couple of months, it had become clear Jamie thought of Dipper as pretty close to his best friend. Dipper didn’t deny Jamie was fun to talk to, and was really enthusiastic about the weird and supernatural, a point of similarity that made it easier to share their other interests. 

But it felt weird to consider someone besides Mabel in the position of his best friend, and strangely guilty whenever he couldn’t make time for Jamie.

“Yeah, it sucks we can’t catch up before you head out, but I’ll keep in touch-”

Mabel plucked Dipper’s phone from his hand, spinning on her heel as he lunged after her to get it back. “Oh, hey, Jamie! Yes, this is Mabel. Oh, Dipper? Dipper doesn’t know how to manage his time properly. Oh, really? That sounds fantastic! Don’t you worry about it. I have everything in hand. Mhm, sure. Okay, bye!”

She turned to Dipper and handed back his phone, smiling with a smug twist to her face. “Were you honestly going to ditch Jamie for _packing_? Even though he was going to take you to a _library_? Frankly, I’m ashamed of you.”

“What - we’re supposed to be packing to go to-”

“Oh, Dipper.” Mabel shoved Dipper away from his suitcase and toward the door to their room. “I can pack for you in my _sleep_. Go out and have fun!”

“But how am I supposed to meet up with him?”

“Oh, Jamie said something about that - you need to wander around a library thinking on all the things you'll never get answers to. Sounds like it's right up your alley. Seriously, have fun!” She shoved him bodily out of their room and locked the door behind him, forcing Dipper to find his way back inside, or go meet up with Jamie.

Dipper slipped down the stairs and ducked out the front door rather than trying to explain where he was going. If pressed, Mabel would give the barest details necessary to avoid worry. The public library was a low, blocky building, hardly impressive, but it usually was good enough for Dipper’s needs. Finding his way to Katherine’s library, however, would take a little luck.

Once inside, Dipper tried to parse Mabel’s instructions. Think about the stuff no one tells him? Like how to get into the library? Dipper began wandering the shelves at random, just to avoid having to talk to anyone, and mused on it. The problem was that there was a lot of stuff people never told him. Not just the things he had to look up himself, but also the questions that had for so long resulted in the answer ‘because’, or ‘you’re not ready’. Questions he pried out of people who insisted they’d had a perfectly good reason to keep it from him, or lie-

Dipper stumbled, nearly cracking his head open on a bookshelf. He caught his hand on the side of it, and when he was successfully braced, looked up.

He...was not in the Piedmont library anymore.

The shelves were rough, and almost organic. The books seemed to have little clear order, and included ancient tomes in leather next to shiny, new books in plastic. And the entire space was lit with a gentle, ambient light - easy to see in, without any glare.

“Hey, Dipper!”

“Shhh!” The walls themselves shushed Jamie, who, hopping at the end of an aisle, ducked, flushing, before jogging to Dipper’s side.

“Hey,” Jamie repeated, not substantially quieter, but apparently enough that the library didn’t shush him again. “Glad your sister could get you out.”

Dipper shrugged. “Yeah. She was right, anyway; I was just panicking about nothing. I’d have planned some time if I knew you were going away.”

“Really?” Jamie’s grin was so wide, so sincere, it was a little unnerving. Only Mabel was ever that open with Dipper, but that playbook didn’t seem to apply.

“Well, yeah. I’d rather have plans than have my sister sneak me out of the house.” At Jamie’s wide-eyed look, Dipper rolled his eyes. “I don’t sneak out to drink and rob convenience stores, so stop giving me that ‘naughty list’ expression. And may I remind you I’m Jewish?”

Jamie grinned sort of helplessly. It was ridiculous; he probably made sure his friends brushed their teeth, and yet let the personification of winter propel him along highly dangerous sledding routes. It was strange to feel the flicker of desire to solve a mystery when thinking about that, because it wasn’t as if there was one clue or fact that would explain what made Jamie Bennett the way he was.

“Anyway, you promised me a fabulous library full of answers to all the mysteries I want to solve.”

“I think he either misled you, or you built unrealistic expectations of what this place was meant to be.”

“Katherine!” Jamie bolted back down the aisle, ignoring the shushing of the walls, pausing at the side of a woman who dragged him in for a firm embrace.

When she pulled away, Dipper got a better look at her. The woman was dressed in a bustled dress all in pastels, her sleeves short and collar high. She was a little taller than Dipper and Jamie both, slender, and her face holding the preserved quality of the sort of woman who stopped aging at 60. The lines of her face framed and hinted at frequent smiling, something borne well by the resting smile she wore looking at him with grey eyes. It was a color he didn’t think he’d seen before, except in reference to Athena. With that thought, he noticed the scabbard running the length of the woman’s thigh, and the careful way she held herself, even in her own home.

“Hi,” Dipper said, offering Katherine a wave.

“Oh, don’t act so nervous,” she said curtly, stepping forward with brisk, balanced steps. She tugged Dipper into a hug, one that felt...familiar and warm. As she pulled away, he almost thought he could smell his Nana’s perfume. “Hello, Dipper. I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

“From Jamie?”

Katherine threw back her head and laughed, a sound like the pealing of bells. “Of course not. From your own stories. Come along, and I’ll explain.” She took Dipper and Jamie each by the hand and led them along the aisles of her library. “I am the keeper of the stories of childhood. The myths and fairy tales you grew up hearing were my work, in one way or another. If a tale is told that needs to be shared, I ensure it is passed on. Sometimes I detail the events I observe or in which I take a part. I archive the legends that make a culture.

“You are not quite a legend yourself, Dipper, but you draw close to legends, touch their histories, and that is how I heard of you. But you didn’t come here to have me lecture at you, did you?”

“I don’t know; you could. This place is amazing!” The library seemed to wind on for ages, even though they seemed to be approaching an edge. “Do you have every book ever written in here?”

“Hardly. I am not a collector of...facts. I have taken a great deal of care to excise lies from my library, but my books tell stories and legends. And sadly, until recent years, I didn’t have the means to acquire _every_ book I might have wanted. But there are things you could find in my library you could find nowhere else.”

They arrived at a small wooden door set in a high wooden wall. The door had an ovoid window cut in it, and had a planter set in it, growing yellow flowers. Katherine pushed it open, and led them into an office that would have been merely cozy had every surface not been overtaken by books. In fact, as Katherine gestured to Dipper and Jamie to take a seat, Dipper realized that the furniture itself appeared to be made of piles of books. The chair he took seemed sturdy enough, so he didn’t comment.

“You don’t just collect all this stuff to let it sit around, do you?”

Katherine shook her head as she settled behind her desk which, Dipper confirmed, was also made of books. “Of course not. The library has several purposes. The first is that sometimes a child is lost and confused, feeling alone in the world. Such a child may benefit from hearing a story of someone like them, or someone who faced similar challenges, or some other such tale. The library, I’m afraid, isn’t in the sort of order most librarians prefer, because it is arranged in an empathic order - to better allow such children to stumble upon just the book they need.

“The second reason for this library is that sometimes children become curious about things beyond them...things too complex or dangerous for them to address. Here, they may find me, or a book, that can answer their questions in a way that allows them to explore that knowledge safely, without the risks of unscrupulous teachers or unreliable information that could get them hurt.”

Dipper had to fight down another flash of irritation at evidence that the Guardians had failed him and Mabel, that they had been left to flounder when there were tools that were meant to keep them from doing exactly what they’d been doing - stumbling from crisis to crisis, nearly dying dozens of times.

“If the library is in empathic order, does it mean that if I were looking for something, I’d be able to find it?”

“No. The library is empathic, not telepathic. It won’t respond to specific requests - only intuition and feeling. Why? What is it you’re looking for?”

Dipper took a deep breath. He hadn’t addressed the topic of Bill Cipher with any of the Guardians, but it seemed this might be the time.

“Oh, mostly stuff about the Golden Age.” Dipper glanced at Jamie, who was offering Katherine a guileless smile, and took a quick re-evaluation of Jamie’s character. “I mentioned it once or twice and he was asking about it.”

“Hm.” Katherine gave Jamie a long, penetrating look. “Well, I think you’d be best served wandering the stacks a bit. Try to let your mind wander a bit - it might help.”

“Thanks, Katherine!” Jamie bolted out of his seat, grabbing Dipper’s elbow to drag him after. He hurried among the stacks for about a minute before he slowed, moving with less purpose as his eyes drifted half-closed.

“What was that about?” Dipper asked, as quietly as he could manage.

Jamie flashed Dipper a quick grin. “You seem really jumpy about the whole...dream demon thing. I thought you’d like to know more before talking to the Guardians.”

“And what about Goody Two-Shoes Jamie?”

“Is that what you think of me?” Jamie gave Dipper a curious glance, looking almost...hurt.

“Uh...maybe? You seemed a little weird about me sneaking out of the house.”

Jamie shook his head and flashed Dipper a sly, almost wolfish, grin, with a flash of teeth. “Come on. What do you think I do when I’m hanging out with Jack? And let’s not forget all the secrets I’m keeping from my mom. I…” He paused, shrugging. “I try not to sneak around on the Guardians, but it seems...your secrets are important to you.”

Dipper’s stomach fluttered at that, and he kept his mouth shut, uncertain how to respond. “Hm.” He poked at the nearest book, which seemed to jolt Jamie back into action.

“But you’ve got a curfew and we’ve got books to find. Don’t worry; I’m sure I can find the stuff we want…”

It took a little longer than Dipper expected, which was what came of relying on intuition over a reliable method of filing. But what they did find was...well, not a treasure trove. But particularly useful nonetheless.

The ancient, leatherbound ‘Chldren’s Tales of the Cosmos’ gave a brief history of what had been called the Golden Age. The Light of Creation - the force that created the universe - had split into twelve, and each fragment inhabited a family who were granted a fraction of the power of creation. These families - the Constellations - united their power to fight the darkness of the universe, lock them away in a fantastic prison, and usher in a Golden Age of peace.

It was strange, because there was another story a few pages down that said the Light of Creation was guarded by the Pooka, to nurture fledgling worlds with the potential to allow it to flourish...

“Oh.”

Dipper glanced up from his reading. Jamie was halfway through a large, dusty tome. “What is it?”

“I think I found...something. It’s a list of stories about people who used the ‘Gate of Truth’. It’s a…’circle men draw upon the world when they seek knowledge beyond their ken’. Gah, is this a kid’s book?”

Dipper tilted his head to read the title - ‘Cautionary Tales for Kits’. “Looks like it. What’s it say?”

“Well, everybody who draws the Gate of Truth goes insane, or dies, or...worse?”

Dipper opened his mouth, but closed it before asking. He was pretty sure even if the book detailed what ‘worse’ was, he’d regret knowing it. “Anything else?”

“I mean, it’s a whole bunch of short stories. So-and-so opens the Gate, and goes insane. This fellow opens the Gate, and dies. This one...is mostly okay.” Jamie turned the page and winced. “Or not. Oh, cool - another warning. ‘The cost of opening the Gate is always higher than you can bear’. Why...does anyone use this thing?”

Dipper snorted. When Jamie shot him one of those hurt, wide-eyed looks, he sighed. “Because people are dumb. Half the stuff that goes on in Gravity Falls is because of people being stupid, instead of the supernatural. Or people being dumb _with_ the supernatural. People like to think they’ve figured things out, and that includes getting one over on something that drives people insane. But it’s weird - none of those mention Bill?”

Jamie flipped through the book. “No...but there’s a page missing near the back. You think it’s important?”

“I think...it’s something Katherine thought we shouldn’t see. This is supposed to be a safe space.” Dipper reached out and closed the book. “We’re probably done here.”

“Awww.”

“I _do_ need to pack. And I don’t think we’re getting any more information unless we rob Katherine’s office.”

“Alright.” Jamie shoved his book back onto the shelves as Dipper returned his to the same place he’d found it. When Dipper turned, he was caught in an unexpected hug from Jamie. Dipper had just enough time for an awkward pat before Jamie pulled away.

“You’ll be in touch?” Jamie asked.

“Yeah, of course. Tell me how the camping goes!”

“Shhh!”

Jamie giggled, and waved goodbye as he headed down the nearest aisle. Dipper stared at the book about the Gate of Truth, considering.

Eventually, he decided to leave it, on the theory that pissing off librarians never got anyone anything, and that there didn’t seem to be anything worthwhile in the book that Jamie hadn’t already summarized.

But he was always going to wonder about what was on that last page…

~~~

Aster had mostly given up on keeping the lights on in the Warren. It seemed too much work lately, and forced him to acknowledge how much empty space was around him. At the moment, he’d lit a single candle on his kitchen table, to illuminate the paper he was holding.

It was ancient, but being Pooka-made, had retained much of its color and flexibility. On it were two diagrams - each of an annulus, divided in pieces and marked with arcane symbols, and each containing a circle inscribed in a triangle. Someone had drawn hands, feet, and a slim top hat on one of the triangles, and written notes in the margins.

_”I have found that the risks - and the costs - are lessened if one calls upon the Guardian of the Gate, as he will share much knowledge freely, and use his prodigious power on the behalf of his summoner, for a price commensurate with what is asked._

_”He may appear to any who open the Gate, but will _always_ appear when called with the incantation - _ ‘Triangulum, entangulum. Meteforis dominus ventium. Meteforis venetisarium!’”

Aster traced the edge of the diagrams lazily, finding his gaze drawn back to the little triangular man within them.

“Cipher…”


End file.
